Tri-County’s Dylan White Traded the Field for the Links

Although as cliché as it sounds, Tri-County’s golf coach Ryan Hippert believes that senior tri-captain Dylan White is what every coach looks for in an athlete.
“Dylan is everything that we want in our athletes at Tri-County,” the coach said. “He is not only a great kid, but also possess sportsmanship and is a student athlete with the right attitude. He is definitely the kind of kid every coach wants on his or her team.”
White began playing golf around the age of eight because of his older brother, Quinton, who seemed to be enjoying the sport, and that’s all it took. White picked up a golf club and found it was something that he liked as well. However, once in high school, he didn’t originally take to the links with the rest of the Cougar golfers. Instead, he suited up for the freshman football team.
“In high school, I played football my freshman year, but soon realized that it wasn’t what I was looking for and decided to go out for the golf team,” White said. “I felt that I was better skilled at golf than football, and I needed a change. Once on the golf team, I seemed to improve each year.”
When his sophomore season rolled around, White decided to ditch the pads and helmet and pick up his golf bag to join the golf team.
“That first year, I found myself a little rusty at first, as I had gone through all the pre-season workouts for football before deciding to leave for golf,” the Franklin native said. “Because of the workouts, I hadn’t played all that much golf before the season started, and once I did start playing, I wasn’t winning all that much, as I was not use to match play.”
Moving onto the greens, White found himself as either the Cougars sixth or alternate golfer during matches. Teeing off later in the match, White found himself shooting in the mid to high 40’s as a sophomore, but wanted to not only improve his game, but also move up the depth chart and play more.
Last fall, the then junior did just that. After having worked hard during the off-season, White found himself as the team’s number two golfer, where he shot in the mid 40’s on average. This season he moved up another notch and is playing as Tri-County’s number one golfer.
“Coming into the year, I felt that I still needed to work on my game over the summer to put up lower scores once the season got under way,” White said. “Coach (Hippert) thought that my play gave us a better chance at winning at number one.”
White, who also plays basketball in the winter and baseball in the spring for the Cougars, was named as one of the team’s captains this fall, and he is hoping to help get the younger golfers up to speed and teach them what they need to do to be successful during matches.
“Currently we’re 5-3-1 as a team, and Dylan is a big part of that,” Hippert said. “His leadership exemplifies his character; he’s a perfect captain and student athlete.”
Last season, the Cougars just missed qualifying for the District Tournament by one win and at the time of this writing Tri-County still had three games in hand, needing only one victory to advance into the tournament. During his sophomore campaign, the team went undefeated and captured the Mayflower League Championship; White would like nothing better to get back to that season, one in which he was seldom used on the golf course.